Earth: February 2013

NASA's Van Allen Probes mission has discovered a previously unknown third radiation belt around Earth, revealing the existence of unexpected structures and processes within these hazardous regions of space.

A powerful winter storm left New Englanders digging out from heavy snow in early February 2013. According to unofficial totals released by the National Weather Service, snowfall totaled up to 33.5 inches (85 centimeters) in Connecticut, 31.0 inches (79 centimeters) in Massachusetts, and 30.4 inches (77 centimeters) in New Hampshire.

Korea's Kompsat-2 satellite captured this image of southern central Romania in January. The area pictured is part of a geographic transitional region between the Southern Carpathians to the north and the lowland plains to the south.

Estimated to have been a 9 tonnes in size a meteorite streaked across the sky over the Ural mountains in Russia and exploded at 30 to 50 kilometres above ground. The supersonic reentry and debris injured an estimated 1100 people according to reports in Russia. Part of the meteor crashed into a frozen lake. An estimated 3000 buildings were damaged in the city of Chelyabinsk including the roof collapsing at a zinc factory.

This true-color satellite image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite on February 03, 2013 as it passed over Queensland, Australia. Actively burning areas, detected by MODIS's thermal bands, are outlined in red.

Strong winds once again carried a huge veil of sand across West African, then hundreds of kilometers over the North Atlantic Ocean in late January, 2013. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured this true-color image on January 31 as it passed over the region.

At a press briefing NASA and U.S. Geological Survey scientists discuss the data they'll look to get from the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), the satellite due to launch from Vandenberg AFB in California on Monday, Feb. 11.